SOUTHERN FAVE
This is my last painting for my Painting 1 class. Next semester I will have a special studio for painting with Ms. Atkinson since I could not fit in her regular painting class due to demands of my graphic design major. When I told her I would not be coming to the Art Department next semester she offered the special studio idea and I was thrilled!

I think this piece is my favorite painting of the entire semester; okra and purple onions on a white pedestal table laid sideways. That okra had been laying around awhile, and that onion on the left had been laying around awhile too, and it had a nice sprout on it. I'd been thinking it would make a nice painting subject when by chance they had gotten laid together and I noticed the colors looked really nice together. Finally, to my delight, it was set out for us on the last day! I think it was mostly for the lack of anything else being available, but how nice!

9 X 12 oil on masonite board.

GRANNY'S VASE PAINTED IN OILS
So here's my Granny's blue vase painted in oils along with Ms. Sally's vintage glass pieces. I did this one on a 20 X 24 masonite board. It turned out good, though I am not crazy about the composition. Not a lot to work with, just a few pieces of glass sitting on a white pedestal, so given that, I think it turned out pretty ok.

VINTAGE GLASS
Here's my final project for drawing II class. It's a pastel drawing on a piece of 16 X 20 black mat board. The still life is mostly vintage glass. That piece on the left is a vase that my grandmother has had for as long as I can remember, which she gave to me recently. The orange vessel belongs to my classmate, Ms. Sally Walton, and it belonged to her mother. The clear piece is just a piece that belongs the art department. I've also done a painting of these two beauties in oil along with a vintage yellow glass canister. The painting is still at school drying; I'll post that one later.

TROUT TWO WAYS
Unfortunate is the fish that makes it to my art class. Here's some more dead fish, this time trout, painted on their first day in painting class in oil on a 12 X 16 masonite board. The next morning their little bleeding carcasses were laid out for my drawing class, where I drew them with charcoal onto 14 X 17 Canson paper. How sweet of them to give their lives to art! Look! The little one is kinda smiling...

YAWN
Wandering Jew vine in a blue glass vase in the foreground. Curly willow in the jar in the background. Charcoal on Canson paper. Weird composition. Sorta unfinished. I'll call it the Three Day Migraine composition, since this is migraine art. This was one of those days when when that nagging ethical side of me that I get from my Daddy got the better of me, and I got up and went to school anyway. My head hurt like heck, I was in a fog all morning, could not draw for $hit, and my brain was receiving messages in arrears. I should have stayed in bed. I think everyone would have been better off. I can be pretty freaky when my head ain't right.

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL
Here's a pumpkin still life I did yesterday in drawing class. It's charcoal on a 16 X 20 goldenrod colored mat board.

MORE TEA?
Here's the teapot again, with tea and citrus fruit. This time it's in charcoal and white pastel on a piece of 16 X 20 pale blue mat board. I hope the teapot is put away next week. I'm ready for something new.

THAT SEVENTIES ART
My mom and dad were cleaning out the attic for a garage sale this week, and they found this old piece of junk. Signed and dated by me in 1978. I remember doing this in my high school art class. It's tempera paint on Crescent art board. My husband saw this and loved it with all it's colors and what I call "dod-doo" on it. It's paint is worn off in places and has character with the doo-doo spots I reckon. He liked it so much that he took it to have it framed today. Hahahahah! I suppose it is a pretty complicated piece with all the interlocking geometric shapes. Heady stuff for a teenager in the seventies. Whoa...It's thirty years old.

TEA & SHRIMP PAINTING
Here is the painting of the shrimp. They finally got tossed after all the painting and drawing. Today, we just drew the tea pot, some tea bags and some citrus fruit. I did something cool with it that I'll post later. This painting is 16 X 20 oil on masonite.

SHRIMP & TEA
Here's another attempt with pastels. I did this in drawing class today. I'm also painting these shrimp in painting class, so we'll see a painting later of the shrimp and this same tea pot, etc. I love the irregular shaped brown cup that someone made in the pottery class.

I am liking pastels more. I'm slowly catching on with each drawing. I actually like this piece, though I don't think it's all that greatly executed, I'm improving, and I just like the stuff in the picture. I was dragging a bit today and seemed to have a problem with relationships for some reason. I used a piece of mat board for this one, colored a sort of goldenrod.

WINTER BIRD
Experimenting with the pastels again. I used my Rembrandt pastels with this. I do like them better than the Nupastels. This is just a small piece on black mat board. I used a wat-not bird for a model and some dried up rosemary. I did some reading on techniques and tried some out with this. Just messing around really, but he's kinda cute.

CURLY WILLOW ROOTING
Our latest still life in painting class is an unusual looking clear glass jar with some curly willow sticks rooting in it. They are really pretty, but very tall. I was lucky to get some of the leaves into the painting. Hopefully I'll be bringing a branch or two home to plant in my yard.

There's the pomegranates again. And the pumpkins. And that red pitcher I've painted and drawn umpteen times :-) Haha! 20 X 24 Oil on masonite.

STRUGGLING WITH PASTELS
I really want to work with these because they are so pretty. This is only my second attempt with these, so maybe I should not expect too much. I'm trying to get the hang of how these blend, which brand is best for me, when to rub and when not to. These are so much like paint but not as easy to correct. Hopefully some progress will be seen as I go along. I think some different paper would help, and it could be time to try the Rembrandts.

DOWN TO THE WATERLINE
20 X 24 Oil on masonite painting from class. I have been forced to paint gladiolas! Arrggggghhhhh! Painting flowers is not my favorite, but the more I do it I'm sure the better I'm going to love it. My favorite thing about this piece is the vase and the waterline. The photo does not nearly do it justice. I need a better camera.

BIG SPECKLED EGG
This craziness measures 8 X 10 on a canvas board. Still wet when I snapped the photo. Strange painting, but I needed to use the paint left on my palette so I could clean it up and have a fresh start on Monday for painting class, and this is what happened. We'll be starting our mid-term project then. I did not want to waste the paint leftover from the pear paintings, so I did this egg. I realize it looks kinda crazy, but I sort of like it at the same time. When I look at it I think dinosaurs and jungle plants, or even "kerthump!"

A PAIR OF PEAR PAINTINGS
After touching up drawings to complete my drawing class portfolio, I had nothing better to do than paint since my family deserted me for band contest, and old friends. So! I had these lovely pears from WalMart that I decided to paint. I put two on a dishrag with a speckled ceramic egg, and then I painted one alone, and really,really large. These are still wet in the photos so they look a tad shiny.

Pear Pair - 12 X 16 Oil on masonite (Saturday night)



Alone Pear - 16 X 20 Oil on masonite (Started Sunday morning and completed by 2p.m.)

WOLFE STUDIO BIRD WITH FLOWER STEMS & FRUIT
Here's my first real attempt to do something with pastels. I got out my 96 Prismacolor Nupastels that I've been saving up and took them to school for drawing class. The difference between these and the Gallery brand pastels that I'd been playing with is remarkable. Now I'm toying with breaking out that 15 set of Rembrandts.

This is no masterpiece but I think it turned out cute, 'cause it's on a pink blankie, and that Wolfe Studio bird is just a sassy little feller. I gots to get me some of those Wolfe birds. Gonna put 'em on my Christmas list.

HORSEAPPLES AND PITCHER OF FLOWERS
More of my paintings from class. The flowers I touched up this morning. The horseapples I just don't like very much, but my teacher says "It's really a beautiful painting." I don't exactly agree, however, the colors are nice and it did look good with a gold frame around it. I don't like the composition because it seems almost centered.

Both of these are 16 X 20, oil on masonite.

MORNING CATCH
I've spent this morning touching up some of my paintings from class. I have not been satisfied with them because they needed something, and what they needed is light. In the time allotted in class I don't get around to fully highlighting and so I brought everything home on Friday to get the highligts in and give a coat of Kamar varnish to all the ones that are presentable. Honestly, the first few are downright awful, but the last few have been ok.

So, here's the bream fish that a lady from my drawing class brought in for us a few weeks ago. Her husband caught them for us that morning. We painted them around lunch time, and Miss Ruby the cleaning lady took them home for her supper.

I have to say that everyone's fish paintings turned out really nice. I think I would not mind painting some more fish. But someone will have to be kind enough to catch them again for me, as I am not a fisher.

THE KITCHEN GUARDIAN
Here's the last project I did with Becky Barnett. It's an all white painting; every item except the angel was white. This was one of those down to the wire projects where all the students were working on it right down to the last minute before critique.

This was a difficult project since it was all white, and all the pieces in the still life are shaped really funky. That vase on the left has an especially unusual neck on it and it drove me nuts getting it correct in my sketch, as well as getting the axis correct on it. And the one on the right has a strange shape as well. I finally finished this up today by completing a small portion of the tabletop, which I had neglected to do when I turned the project in due to time running out. But, I still got an A on it :-).

I miss painting with Becky. I love the methods she taught me. I'm enjoying learning from Melanie too though. I think that variety is going to bring about an interesting style for me in the long run.

STILL LIFE WITH WOLFE RED BIRD
Finally, a decent painting from my painting class. This is a 20 X 24 oil on masonite (or hardboard as it is called today). It's a completely different style for me. I'm learning from Melanie Atkinson, a style that is completely different from what I was taught by my first painting teacher, Becky Barnett, who taught me to paint in the style of the old masters. This painting was produced quickly, in less than 5 hours, which is equivalent to two class periods.

It's taken some time, but I'm beginning to get the hang of Melanie's fast and loose technique. I have a long way to go, but I'm seeing progress enough to share now. I love the little red pottery bird, produced locally at Wolfe Fine Art Studio in Jackson.

ANGEL FROM STATUE
This is drawn from a statue made of resin or something that looks like sort of like terra cotta. Charcoal and pastel on 18 X 24 Canson paper. I don't know what I'm doing with this. The pastels are cheapies. I'm going to try my Nupastels next week and see if I fare better with them.

GEORGE
George is a skeleton that has been a fixture in the Art department at Hinds Community College for many years. He's old and he's coming apart, but we really love it when Ms. Atkinson gets him out for us to draw. Mostly she asks us to do abstract work from him. These drawings are from George, done in charcoal and soft pastel, and they are pretty much the only drawings I've done this semester that I'm satisfied at all with.

PLEIN AIR - HOT FAST AND LOOSE
This is a painting of some echinacea flowers (AKA purple cone flower) out by our shed near some rosemary. I felt like painting yesterday and wanted to paint these flowers. So I got out the Jullian easel and set up all my art stuffs by the shed along with skeeter dope, Gatorade, and a bowl full of ice water with a wash rag in it.



Despite my efforts to keep cool, I did a LOT of sweating. My aim was to capture the loveliness of the flowers and the rosemary in a loose, yet somewhat real style, without being eaten alive or passing out. I succeeded I think, in just the nick of time. My face was mighty red upon completion of this 8 X 10 piece, which I must say I put the least time ever into, but the most sweat.

BUTTERFLY PROPHETS
This is a new mixed media piece on an 8 X 10 canvas board. I used one of my original poems as the basis for the piece. The poem is about my daughter.

My dear friends the Uticacats recently sent this video to me by email. It's not every day that a favorite bluegrass band of mine teams up with a country legend to perform a favorite tune from a favorite rock band of mine. I'm totally diggin' Dolly Parton and Nickel Creek performing Collective Soul's "Shine." Check it out. It'll make you get goose bumps.

MONMOUTH ANGEL
12 x 12 mixed media on board canvas. In this one, I've used a photo of an angel statue that I took at Monmouth Plantation in Natchez when I had the pleasure of staying there a few years ago. The background consists of tissue paper and acrylic paint with glitter and star confetti. The cross is cut wood spray-painted metallic gold, then mottled with bronze acrylic paint and silver leaf. The little medallion is an aluminum St. Theresa medal that I found several of at the junk shop in Raymond. The Garden of To-morrow music sheet comes from the vintage photo sharing site.

MARGARETHA
Here's another mixed media piece on an 8 X 10 canvas board. The background is acrylic with some confetti stars and a bit of pink glitter. I took the colors from the belly dancer's outfit. They remind me of Fruit Stripe gum *licks lips and says "yummy"*! I've used tissue paper for the starry moon-like backdrop. An old piece of an earring adorns her outfit.

The image comes from the vintage resources site. It's from a postcard circa 1907. Can you guess who she is? The numbers on the gold leafed star give a hint.

GARDEN OF TO-MORROW
Here's a small mixed media piece done on a 5 X 7 board canvas. I used raw umber, yellow ochre and white acrylic paints to make the mottled background. The music piece and the image of the girl came from the vintage resources site. I found the treble clef during the outing with my art class to the junk shop in Raymond; it was actually an earring (not a terribly pretty one). I used a rosette from some tissue paper to make a background for the clef. The butterfly wings I've given the girl came from a magazine, and the butterfly to her left is a sticker. Her crown is cut from some scrapbook paper. It's all finished off with gel medium as usual.

CONTEMPLATIONS OF THE HEART
I'm revisiting a beloved image from the vintage photo site for this mixed media piece, this time in color. I've used a 9 X 12 board canvas leftover from when a still-life I was working on at school got destroyed over spring break. The background is acrylic paint and tissue paper. I colored the tissue paper with metallic marker to pick up some green from the image. I used pearl beads and confetti hearts and stars for accents, then finished it all off with gel medium and a spritz of Krylon. I need to find a pretty, ornate type of frame for this one.

CHERRY BLOSSOM GIRL
Here's a new 16 X 20 mixed media piece. I used acrylic paint for the background and to paint the cherry blossom branch. The photos are from the vintage photo site. I've used a sheet of origami paper, some fortunes, an old postage stamp from my vintage stamp stash, and some chopsticks from a local restaurant to complete the piece. The Japanese text also came from the vintage photo site. I framed the piece in frame that is gold with an accent stripe of rusty red that matches the color in the origami paper. I am happy with this one. I like the colors, and the little geisha girl is so cute. I'm definitely putting this one in the gallery show.

CLOUD DANCERS
Here's a new mixed media piece for my gallery show this summer. This is done on a stretched 18 X 24 gallery canvas. The ballerina image is from the vintage photo sharing site I've mentioned before, and I've used it in a prior piece. I've used two old cloisonnes pins that I found at a junk shop in Raymond on a recent trip with my Design class, and some old pieces of jewelry as little accents (I love the little piano!). The clouds are made of tissue paper. The little frames are leather and chrome. The background is acrylic painted with a wet-on-wet technique that I've used in the past. The crowns are hand cut from a magazine and accented with metallic RoseArt pens. It's all finished with gel medium.

I have framed it in a gold frame that is somewhat ornate, but not too terribly frilly and it accents the art nicely.

STRANGE COMPOSITION
This is my latest oil painting. It is 8 X 10 on a board canvas. It's a red delicious apple stacked on top of a golden delicious apple, with a lime resting in the foreground. I tried putting a number of items into the still life on the left side, but kept taking them out as nothing seemed to look better there than the shadow of the red delicious.

HOME-MADE BOOK PROJECT

I had to do a project for my graphic computers class. Part of it was simply to prove that I know how to use the software. That was easy enough. I chose to create a book using poems I've written about my life in the South. The file is done and ready to turn in as a PDF. I was also instucted to do whatever I wanted creatively with it as far as the physical production of the book.

At first I thought I'd just send it to Kinko's. Then, I was in my drawing teacher's office and noticed that she has this little collection of home-made books in a display case...I was hooked. I knew when I saw them I'd have to create my own. This is something I’ve never tried before.

On short notice I was limited on what I could do because of supplies. I had to use things I already had on hand as there was no time to go on a supply excursion. My drawing teacher loaned me a book to help out, but supplies listed in it are hard to come by on short notice (bee's wax, horse hoof musilage...???). It did give me some ideas about binding though, which is what I was mostly after, and I was able to do a variation from the book with the materials I had on hand.

Front View with Bookmark


I used mat board, red craft paper and the backs of old notebooks to construct the front and back covers. The front cover comes from a collage I did some time back and I used a jpg that I desaturated in photoshop to make the black and white effect. I also used it as a backdrop for old family photos that I scanned and used in the book as well. I used gel medium to fasten some metal moons and a cupid and star to the front to add some interest. The binding is an organza ribbon run through three holes I punched with an awl. The finishing touch is a twig from the back yard.

Inside Cover


Overall, I think the craftmanship could be better next time, but for the limited time and materials I think it turned out nice, and it was not terrilbly torturous work! The hard part was deciding on the binding and figuring out a proper variation for what I had on hand to work with, then executing it without screwing it up.

Back View


Accompanying Bookmark

FUN WITH CHARCOAL
Our latest projects in drawing class are charcoal drawings. Here are some still life drawings done on 18X24 drawing paper. Messy fun!

Bricks, Fruit & Flowers


Spot


Bones

VINTAGE BABIES COLLAGE
I put this collage together on a piece of cardboard that measures roughly 10 X 17. The background is made from tissue paper, torn/wadded paper, and scrapbook paper that I burned to get a rough edge. The black and white pieces come from a Web site that shares vintage photos for use by artists. I used some of the three cent stamps Jason Moulder so kindly sent me at the new year to give a nice purple accent. Some items from my international postal stash are added to finish off the piece.

SKULL STILL LIFE WITH APPLE, WATER PITCHER & RED BOTTLE
Yes, I've once again painted that old protector of the brains that I appreciate so very much. This time in a still life with a water pitcher I picked up at a local second-hand store, a Macintosh apple, and a red bottle which may start to look familiar in days to come as I've painted it in one of my earlier paintings and I like it very much.



This piece is done in oil on a 16 X 20 stretched canvas and it's one I've been working on in my spare time at home on my own. It's the first one that I tried a final glaze on, which is something that some old dude at the art supply store told me about that he likes to do on his paintings. I knew nothing of this technique other than I'd heard the term thrown around here and there. I thought what the heck, I'm mostly experimenting anyway. So I tried it out using the method as explained to me by the old dude at Art Supply Headquarters, who, I don't know his name, but he's always super nice to me and nice to chat with. I liked the effect I got with it as it seemed to unify the piece. I used a little yellow ochre with a lot of linseed oil, and after speaking with my art teacher about it, she says you should always use a transparent color, which yellow ochre is not. Lucky for me I used a very thin wash and I don't think it was enough to mess anything up.

ANALOGOUS PAINTING
This is my analogous project from design class. It's on a 9X12 canvas board. The project was to paint a still life using an analogous color scheme. The bowl and the piece of fruit, which we don't know what is, were actually green. The pitcher, however, was red. In this painting, the pitcher reminds me of a giant pickle. The entire thing screams green and yellow. It's very analogous; I definitely accomplished the goal of the project. I'm not sure I like the painting though. It's is too loud to suit me.

Oh well, I guess it turned out OK for what it was meant to be. I can't say I like it much though. Someday, I'll be a real artist, and I'll be able to paint things I want to paint, not what is set before me by a teacher. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the learning process, it's just that the same items time after time get boring. That pitcher has been set before me umpteen times and it's getting o-l-d.

SOMETHING FROM DRAWING CLASS
This is an ink and brush drawing done on watercolor paper with India ink. It's the only one I've done so far that has turned out decent enough that I'd actually want to share it. We've been doing these in my drawing class for the last four sessions, and I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of it a bit. I might even like it a little, the medium I mean.

I like it more when I can set up my own items at home. The same old stuff at school gets a tad old. I'm beginning to really hate a certain gourd and roper boot, and there's a flower pot that I am actually plotting to knock over and break if I have the opportunity and can make it look like an accident. I'm waiting for my chance...

COMPLEMENTARY COLORS PROJECT
This is another oil painting I did in my Design 2 class. It's a complementary color study on an 8X10 canvas. We were supposed to aim for a bit of an abstract look with this one and to try more color sharing.